EAST ST LOUIS, Ill. (KMOV/Gray News) – A middle school teacher in Illinois says a student stole her wallet and hundreds of dollars in charges were later racked up on her credit cards.
Tammy Huggins says she is concerned the East St. Louis School District might be trying to sweep the incident under the rug.
Huggins teaches at Mason Clark Middle School. She says a 13-year-old student stole her wallet earlier in March.
On March 21, Huggins says she started receiving texts from her credit card company about several purchases.
“I saw there was a $220 charge for Shein, and immediately, I went to check my purse. I was like, ‘Oh, Shein. I know who did this,‘” Huggins said.
Huggins said her suspicions were confirmed after several students told her their classmate bragged about stealing her wallet and several Shein and DoorDash purchases.
“The principal said, ‘The family wants to make you whole. She wants to apologize,’ and he gave me the one credit card,” Huggins said.
It is an apology Huggins refuses to accept. She says she has not received her credit card, wallet, nor the $200 she had inside.
Huggins adds that she believes the district’s administration wants her to just let it go, but that’s something she says she won’t be able to do.
“I’m a teacher. I live paycheck-to-paycheck, and $200 to a principal maybe is nothing, but $200, it is the difference between me buying the sticker for my car and not buying the sticker for my car, and he just blew it off,” Huggins said.
The teacher said she filed a police report and hopes the student and her parents will be held accountable.
The East St. Louis School District sent First Alert 4 a statement about the incident, saying, “We take all reports of lost or missing property seriously and address them in accordance with our policies and procedures. Our priority is to maintain a safe and respectful learning environment for all students and staff. While we cannot comment on specific situations, we remain committed to fostering a culture of integrity and responsibility within our schools.”
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